I'm Not Going Anywhere
by chr0n0trigg3r
Summary: This started out as a way to bring the Titalfall 2 storyline to its proper conclusion but I have since decided to continue the Militia's struggle against the IMC and added several more chapters - more to come. Ask yourself, what price are you willing to pay for victory? Death is only the beginning.
1. Into the Fold

"Cooper, get the Ark out of there before it launches, hurry!" Briggs yelled through the comms in his helmet.

Without thinking Cooper channeled his neural link and pushed BT forward with all the speed his systems could manage. There wasn't much time before the Ark was launched and the Fold Weapon used to obliterate Harmony, it's citizens, and the Militia's final hope against the IMC.

"Fold Weapon priming sequence… complete. Deploying the Ark." Cooper heard the loudspeaker announcement from inside the cockpit.

Cooper & BT had reached the Ark's catapult but not in time. The concussive blast of the launch blacked out BT's external cameras and caused a forced shutdown.

"Cooper, do you read?" Brigg's panicked voice piped in through Cooper's helmet. "Cooper, BT, do you read?"

BT had managed a reboot to a semi-functioning state. _Cooper, the injector backblast has overloaded my critical internal systems._ The message was clear enough but BT's speech module was damaged. The words came through in broken stutters.

"BT! Cooper! Respond!"

 _Attempting to restore ocular systems._

"We've fired everything at the Fold Weapon - no effect on target!"

 _Ocular systems restored._

Cooper's mind was swimming from the information assault. He could hear the sheer terror in Brigg's comms. He knew all too well the destructive power of a close airstrike bombing. If a full salvo of cluster bombs had no effect on the Ark, he and BT's chances of stopping the weapon were slowly dwindling to null report. The external display hud flickered several times and then remained constant.

REINITIALIZING ROOT SYSTEMS. . ran across the screen.

 _My analysis indicates a throw is our only option here._

 _Warning - hostile Titan detected._

Red bolded text flashed WARNING on Cooper's hud. There was nothing he could do but watch; BT was still trying to regain core functionality from the injector blast. BT had dropped his Predator Cannon and all shields were down. Other than having his legs ripped off there was little could be done to put he and BT in a more vulnerable state. Cooper watched as Blisk's Ogre-class Titan stopped a couple meters short of BT. The cockpit doors hissed open and Blisk hopped out, a dull thud resonating through the cockpit as his boots impacted BT's chassis.

"It's your lucky day, hero." Blisk mocked. "I'm not going to kill you. I don't work for free." His South-African accent really inflecting the 'r'. Mercs were all garbage; their only honor lied in piles of credits. To Cooper, men like Blisk were nothing more than hookers with big robots. Though you couldn't see through his helmet, Cooper's eyes were hot pokers of rage. He wanted nothing more than to humble Blisk; destroy his Titan and crush his legs with BT's hand.

"But… you don't get to kill me either…" He chuckled as he said the words. What did Blisk have to be concerned with - he was holding all the cards - including the Apex playing card he fished from the front-left pocket of his combat vest.

"Here, you earned this, eh?" Blisk slapped the card on the cockpit doors and stood up.

"Blisk. That Vanguard class Titan is still in there!" Cooper heard General Marder's voice come through the short-wave radio.

"Not my problem Marder." Blisk casually replied. "Should have put it in my contract. I've got other people with money to see." Mid-sentence Blisk's Titan lowered an arm and scooped up the merc to place him back in the cockpit. As the doors closed, Marder came through the radio, his tone was full of venom and impatience.

"What are you doing? What do you think you are doing?" Blisk could not have cared less. He was already marching off - ready to score another bloated roll of credits. He was, after all, a professional.

Cooper was shaking with rage. BT interrupted.

 _My analysis indicates a throw is our only option here._ More buzzing and stutters from his voice module. The damage was more significant than Cooper had realized.

INITIALIZING EMERGENCY RESTART flashed on the hud.

REROUTING AUXILIARY POWER now flashed. Cooper looked around the cockpit to see if any other systems were running when after a few moments AUX POWER ONLINE came on the screen and changed from grey to solid amber.

 _Cooper, I require your assistance. My auto-navigation systems are offline. Get me into that injector assembly. We must do this together._

A series of scrambled letters were moving on the screen above the Aux Power message. Cooper struggled to try and make sense of them but before he could, they rolled into place. 1. Link to Pilot Jack Cooper - Linked. More lines of text moved and shuffled about the view screen.

Validating Neural Link

Success

Motion Link Restored

Success

Rebooting Comm Array. . . the three dots continued flashing.

"B-boost the signal!" CDR Brigg's voice was coming through Cooper's headset again. "BT! Cooper! Our ground teams can't make it there in time! You've got to find a way to destroy the Fold Weapon from the inside! There's no other way!"

 _Commander Briggs, I believe I have a solution._ More jumbled text was cycling on the hud. 2. Uphold the mission. _In its exposed state, my reactor core may be able to destabilize the Ark at the center of the Fold Weapon._ 2\. Uphold the mission - Destroy Fold Weapon. Cooper used the manual control override to move BT's arms up one by one to the injector seat. Right arm up. Close grip. Hydraulic pistons compress. Left arm up. Close grip. Pistons compress. He repeated the movements. They were torturously slow, but they were making progress.

"What are you saying?" Briggs knew what BT had meant but wanted him to validate her.

 _W-we can b-b-blow it uuuuup. I'm sending you coor-coordinates for a dropship rendezvous-ous._

"Coordinates received. We'll be there, but I don't see how you can." Briggs replied.

 _Trust me. I have done the math._ The word trust was repeated twice and BT's voice was full of static and oscillating rapidly from bass to alto and back to bass.

"I sure as hell hope so. We're on our way. Good luck - both of you. Briggs out." Her voice snapped off and the comms were silent. BT was now fully in the injection seat and Cooper felt the whole system shudder as the launch gears locked into place.

Uploading

Connection unverified

Rerouting link OS V18.723M

Success

A high-pitched whine permeated into the cockpit and Cooper's ears were ringing. The injector was preparing to launch the next object. He finessed the controls and leveled his vision out the central viewing hud.

Vanguard Class Titan: BT-7274 MAIN PROTOCOLS 3. Error Error Error

Cooper drew in a deep breath and let it out. This was it. "Don't worry BT. I'm not going anywhere." he assured the Titan.

 _Copy that, Pilot._ The third protocol was whirring now, cycling through characters. 3. 'Protect' was the only completed word but Cooper already knew what BT was doing. Yellow-amber bars of lights were beginning to work their way up the sides of the injector. The whining of the capacitive launch controller indicated it was nearly at full charge.

"You know the problem with you, BT?" Cooper almost laughed the words out of his mouth.

 _Yes, Cooper. My critical internal systems have sustained heavy damage. I am no longer able to function without assistance._

"No. You're too predictable." Cooper replied. He moved his right hand over a cluster of multicolored buttons and reflexively punched in a sequence of commands.

"Pilot has engaged manual override. Cockpit ejection switched to Pilot control." the system announced.

MANUAL MODE flashed repeatedly on the hud.

 _Pilot…_

"Not this time, BT. If you eject me you'll be blind without the optical sensors in my helmet. We're only going to have one shot at this. We can't afford to miss the Ark."

 _Pilot Cooper, you will not survive the blast. When overloaded, my reactor core will release an estimated 144.39 terajoules of energy. Vaporization is guaranteed._

"I know, BT. There was a reason Lastimosa entrusted you to me. Fact is, your auto-nav systems could have taken you to another pilot. A better, more capable pilot. And yet, here I sit." BT did not respond.

The amber lights had reached under BT's chassis and Cooper could no longer see them. They were about to be launched.

"BT…"

 _Yes, Pilot?_

"Bless all forms of intelligent life. See you on the other side."

 _Noted. See you on the other side, Cooper._

The injection seat wavered and Cooper felt himself being pressed into the back of his seat with 5G of force. Once cleared of the mouth of the injector there was a brilliant flash of blue light - the Ark shimmered. BTs 40T hulking mass hurdled through the air as Cooper did his best to keep his vision forward and centered to give BT the best estimate of the center. It worked. Cooper felt an immense heat building under his seat. He closed his eyes and exhaled.

 _Goodbye, Cooper._

As the reaction built there was a momentary calm before BTs reactor core fully imploded in on itself and burst out in a violent hot white light. The Ark shuddered madly and was overtaken by the core explosion. Their combined energies ripped apart the rotating field rings that previously held the Fold Weapon's energy. BT was right. Briggs watched at a distance from her shuttle as BT's chassis was enveloped in light and vaporized. She gave an unreciprocated salute as Jack Cooper's Status indicator changed from 'Active' to 'Deceased'. She sat down in her jump seat and switched off Cooper's indicator.

"No response from Pilot Cooper or BT-7274." Briggs ordered the shuttle pilot to reroute to Harmony. She felt her face flush and fought back the tears welling in her eyes. "Godspeed, Pilot…" she whispered.


	2. See You on the Other Side

The sun beat down on the white shores of a beach, baking the sand until the salt waves swelled, curled, broke, and drove themselves further inland with each passing hour to cool the smoldering grains. Eventually the ocean pushed itself forward enough to begin soaking the clothes of a man lying on the shore, his breathing indicative of heavy sleep. The tide inched up until eventually pooling under his nose and mouth, rousting him from his slumber.

He awoke with a panic and frantically pushed himself up from the sand and seated himself on the beach, brushing the sand from his face and jumpsuit and trying to get his vision to focus. He slapped his face and body, scanned the horizon. All he could see for miles was an endless ocean in front of him and a seemingly endless beach on all sides. He shifted his weight to support himself with a hand and twisted his torso to look behind only to be greeted by some dunes and an outcropping of rocks with some prickly looking flora. He sighed and shifted forward again to stare out at the vast expanse of water in front of him. He closed his eyes and listened to the waves rolling in, breaking and flowing over his boots and soaking his pants. He thought to himself how he should move away from the water, but didn't. He wasn't sure how he'd gotten where he was but he didn't really care. He felt at peace.

An hour passed, maybe more, before the man stood up and decided he should look around and find out exactly where he was. He heard the cries of some seagulls and turned to see them soaring over the dunes and land a few meters from where he was standing. They bobbled around chatted amongst one another, occasionally eyeing the strange man before returning to their bird business. Looking back down at the sand he noticed there were shells on the beach that he didn't remember being there before. Behind him the rocky outcropping now had moss on the rocks and there were small bushes interlaced between the bunches of dune grasses. _What the hell is going on?_ the man thought to himself, _I'm losing it._

A loud thud and mechanical movements echoed behind him - beyond the dunes - and interrupted his thoughts. _A Titan!_ he thought. _Time to run._ And run he did, scrambling to get his footing. He dashed to the rock outcropping and backed against the rock face in order to shield himself from the inbound Titan. The rocks should hide his position at least for a time. If the mech came onto the beach he might be able to sneak over the dunes and make a run for it without being noticed.

The thuds increased in intensity and the ground shook more violently the closer the footsteps came.

 _Pilot Cooper?_ Mechanical whirring and the sounds of hydraulic pistons hissing and decompressing rushed over the rocks.

 _Pilot Cooper, reveal yourself. We don't have much time._

"BT?!" Cooper yelled from the rocks and ran out from the their protective shade overlooking the dunes. BT's hulking mass stood there scanning the beach before finding Cooper and walking towards him, crushing plants as he lumbered along.

"BT, what is going on? Where are we? My mind is all foggy and I can't remember how I got here."

 _Cooper, this is going to be a bit much to take. You should sit down. I will sit with you._

"Uh…. ok. Ok, buddy, you got it." Cooper reseated himself on the beach and BT worked his way over to him and lowered his massive frame down onto the sand next to him. "Spill it, BT. My head is spinning and I have no idea what's happening. Please help me understand what's going on," Cooper said in a panicked voice.

 _It is complicated, pilot. I will do my best to explain it in a manner you will understand._

"Gee, thanks…" Cooper replied, feeling dejected.

 _From all the data I have been able to collect, we are in 'Nullspace'. Do you remember when I self-destructed my core to destroy the Fold Weapon?_

"Somewhat," Cooper said. "Wait… yes, I remember. Agh!" His hands shot up and gripped his head. There was a pounding there as the faint memory of hot white light came flooding back to him.

 _Believing you have died produces a residual traumatic effect on the mind as it attempts to process what has happened._

"So I'm not dead?" Cooper genuinely sounded surprised. The infinite beach, BT, it all seemed to fit in with him being dead.

 _Not by my calculations. Cooper, every object has a certain frequency it resonates at; in physics this is referred to as its 'Natural Frequency'. If two of these frequencies manage to sync up, the energy signature is multiplied several times over, depending on the amplitudes of the frequencies._

"Uhhh…." Cooper was starting to get lost.

 _Stay with me. In the year 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed on Terra because an earthquake produced the same frequency as the bridge's structure itself. The asphalt looked like a giant sine wave once the earthquake & bridges' energies aligned and it ripped the bridge apart. The same thing happened with us. The energy signatures from the Fold Weapon and my core aligned momentarily and created a tear in Minkowski Spacetime - slingshotting us through the 4th dimension - time. Unfortunately, that resonance cascade lasted only a few picoseconds and was not powerful enough to fully send us to another confirmed Minkowski coordinate set. As such, we are in a space between timelines. Nullspace._

"Then how are we here?" Cooper asked, concern creeping into his voice. "How do we get back? DO we get back?" More panic.

 _We might be able to make it back. I have done the math. I would tell you the likelihood of success but it is low. You had better not think about it._

"Shit. SHIT!" Cooper yelled in frustration.

 _Hold on Cooper, I'm not finished. I am keeping you alive in a dormant state inside my chassis. Using your suits emergency medical systems your metabolism has been substantially lowered. A human will consume 22.91L of oxygen per hour under normal conditions. You are currently consuming one-tenth of that amount. 2.291L an hour. My life-support systems have 1.88L of oxygen remaining. Keep in mind that time moves more slowly on the outside compared to here. I have been working to program my remaining battery cells and primary core to recreate the cascade that sent us here to get us back to our timeline but the calculations are complex._

"Ok, so that's good news?"

BT continued as if he didn't process the question.

 _Back during our scouring of the IMC laboratory that contained the original time-displacement device our minds were temporarily linked. Part of my core personality was ghosted into your mind and vice-versa. As such, I was able to link you to my systems through your helmet and construct this beach visualization in order to provide a temporary tangible reality for your mind. Without some physical representation, your mind might decay by being unable to cope with the concept of non-existence._

"Thanks, I guess?" Cooper felt a wave of despair wash over him.

 _Here is the problem. I have 3 battery cells for powering my chassis as well as my primary & auxiliary systems - in addition to my main core. One of those cells must be used to keep the life support systems and this constructed reality functioning. That cell is now at 35% power and depleting rapidly. The other two I must overheat and cause another explosion in unison with my core in order to artificially generate a second resonance cascade and bring us back to the Draconis. Those are the last known coordinates I have stored in my memory banks._

"That sounds straight-forward enough. What can I do to help?" Cooper said.

 _As I begin to create the cascade I am going to syphon power from the remaining battery keeping this reality constructed. Just as you saw more detailed objects appear the longer you sat here, this world will deteriorate and those objects will disappear. You need to focus on stabilizing yourself the best you can._

"Got it." Cooper's confidence has been somewhat restored knowing he could help in at least some small way.

 _Last thing, pilot. The rift, if I can open it, will be small. I will try and direct the sphere of energy directly to the cockpit but it is unlikely the remainder of my frame will make the journey. We will be dependent on Cmdr Briggs still being near our last known coordinates when we re-enter the Draconis. You won't have much time._

"I think if I was going to back out on you, BT, I would have done it awhile ago… before all this." Cooper motioned his right hand towards the ocean, palm turned upwards.

 _Copy that, pilot. Shall I begin?_

"I'm ready, BT." Cooper focused his gaze forward into the great expanse of ocean in front of him. He tried to clear his mind of any uncertainties he felt towards he and BTs' desperate situation. BT was right. He looked around and saw that the gulls had faded away. The outcropping of rocks disappeared shortly afterwards, then the seashells, and finally scraggly plants dotting the dunes behind him. Continuing to focus forwards the ocean, the grains of sand below him began to deteriorate in quality, becoming more hazy and harder to define in sharp lines.

 _Prepare yourself, pilot._

"BT, everything is almost gone. I… I don't kno-" Cooper blacked out before he could finish his thought. The water and the sand vanished leaving only his collapsed body in a void of blank white space. His body disappeared but Cooper was unaware, thrown once again into the unknown.

BT checked his calculations one final time before initializing the overheat of his core and remaining battery cells. He was constantly monitoring Cooper's vitals and could see a rise in pulse and increased rapidity of breaths based on the rate of oxygen depletion. Cooper would die of shock soon.

WARNING

WARNING

WARNING

CORE DESTRUCT INITIATED

CORE INTEGRITY AT 92%

WARNING

WARNING

WARNING

CORE INTEGRITY AT 77%

WARNING

WARNING

WARNING

CELL 2 TEMPERATURE CRITICAL

CELL 3 TEMPERATURE CRITICAL

WARNING

WARNING

WARNING

BT's HUD continued to flash red and sirens blared inside the cockpit. Cooper remained unconscious as a series of calculations whirred on-screen; BT worked as fast as his processors permitted to override the lock-out system fail-safes. Text slammed the screen full and then scrolled up only to be replaced by another wall of code.

CORE INTEGRITY AT 54%... 35%... 22%... 14%... 4%...

BT used the remaining charge in Cell 1 to record a burst radio transmission if they managed to make it back to the Draconis. It would be broadcast through Cooper's helmet since the energy sphere generated would only be large enough for part of the cockpit to make the trip.

Begin transmission:

 _To all Militia forces, this is BT-7274 requesting emergency retrieval at coordinates 345.56 X, 449.78 Y, -98.98 Z. Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot… Complete._

His heavy frame rocked and buckled under the immense energy blasts forming. A small blueish-white sphere began to materialize as the two energy signatures collided with one another. BT's systems went black as the core and batteries erupted and sent out clear shockwaves that rippled out from the center of the cascade and cut a hole in the center of him. At last there was nothing left. The remainder of his frame disintegrated into nullspace and his systems shut down.

Repeat:

 _To all Militia forces, this is BT-7274 requesting emergency retrieval at coordinates 345.56 X, 449.78 Y, -98.98 Z. Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot… Complete._

Repeat:

 _To all Militia forces, this is BT-7274 requesting emergency retrieval at coordinates 345.56 X, 449.78 Y, -98.98 Z. Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot… Complete._


	3. The Prodigal Son Returns

Amidst the ruins of the Draconis at coordinates 345.56 X, 449.78 Y, -98.98 Z, there was the buzzing sound of static and energy like microwaving a ball of aluminium. Sparks danced in the center of the coordinates and a gravitational lensing effect warped and distorted the rubble around the single point. The lensing increased in intensity and at the very center, a tiny point of blinding hot white light emerged. As the light grew, it shimmered and changed form and color into a blueish amorphic blob of pure energy. At once there was a thunderous roar as the fabric of space was ripped asunder and when the screeching subsided there was left a smoking sphere of metal. A rectangular box containing a blue lens stuttered and blinked several times before fading out and turning jet black; only an afterimage of the planet's sun remained as a reflection in the lifeless lense.

Cooper awoke in a frenzy from the impact, his lungs heaving for breath that wasn't there. His arms lashed out in a violent panic at the arrays of multicolored buttons and levers inside what was left of BT's cockpit. He slapped at the walls and scraped at his helmet with his fingernails. His face was pale and sickly looking and his chest continued to heave violently.

"B… BT?!" he cried out in desperation. Tears streamed down his face. "BT, don't leave me!" but there was no response. _Wait,_ he thought. _Wait, something isn't right here. I… I can't feel my legs._ He felt around by his knees and was halted by the sensation of a warm liquid wetting his gloves. He brought his hands to his face trying to get his eyes to focus through the adrenaline. His periphery ebbed black and grey, tunneling, and when it finally focused enough for him to see his gloves he could tell they were soaked with blood.

"BT! BT I think I've lost my legs! I… I… I can't feel them! BT help me!…" now in a full on episode of panic he inhaled and exhaled rapidly several times before the shock overtook him and he fell unconscious, blood trickling from his butchered legs and spilling down the seat of the cockpit.

50km away Cmdr Briggs was about to have the transport pilot push them into the atmosphere and proceed to Harmony when the pilot messaged her through the radio.

"Ma'am, we just had a large energy signature appear and dissipate on the surface of the planet near the ruins of the Draconis. Orders?" the pilot tapped nervously on the control stick of the transport with a free thumb.

"Bring her down to investigate," Briggs voice piped through his comms.

"Roger that, ma'am,' the pilot's response came through choppy from the roar of the engines but Briggs heard it well enough. She lifted a shaking hand up to her helmet and hesitated a moment, thinking. _Is that Cooper and BT?_ She snapped herself out of the thought and flipped Cooper's indicator back to Active, and waited. And waited. And waited. The seconds seemed to stretch on for hours.

Blip.

The 'Deceased' indicator pulsed several times before switching to 'Critical' instead of what should have been simply an 'Active'. "Move your ass, Pilot! Get to that - "

 _To all Militia forces, this is BT-7274 requesting emergency retrieval at coordinates 345.56 X, 449.78 Y, -98.98 Z. Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot… Complete._

Her emergency hailing frequency picked up BT's final message. "Did you copy that!" she spit through the comms.

"Yes ma'am, setting a course now," he responded. Afterwards the comms were silent other than BT's repeated emergency broadcast.

"Listen up! To all units in Transport 4-5-5, Pilot Cooper is alive and we are going to retrieve him. My indicators show his status as critical. Emergency Response Teams be advised this is a code Niner Niner Two Delta. Pilot in critical condition. Once this bird touches the ground I need you collapsing on his location. Be advised, possible hostile presence. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT let your guards down. We've had enough people die on this operation today already!" Briggs secured herself in her jumpseat and checked to ensure the harnesses were fully locked.

"Fast fall, double quick!" she barked through the master comms to the ship. The remaining crew scrambled to find their own jump seats and thumbed their 'ready up' indicators. Ping ping ping ping. One by one she saw the 'ready' indicators on a nearby monitor board flash green. "Drop!" The transport cut the engines and began to free fall towards the surface of the planet. Several kilometers above the surface the engines flared up again and initiated a reverse thrust to kill their momentum. The aft thrusters exploded to life and pushed them towards the hailing coordinates.

"I want men on those heavy cannons! Sweep the area for hostile forces as we begin our approach!" Briggs was ready for anything. As they began their approach, however, Briggs realized the readiness was unnecessary. The entire surface of the planet was scorched from the blast of the Fold Weapon. Any remaining enemy forces left alive from their previous assault had been completely vaporized. Only the terrain itself remained but had turned a sickly grey color from the Fold's sterilization. Any life in the immediate area of the blast, sentient or otherwise, had been reduced to ash.

"Jesus…" Briggs whispered as they approached the target. Did Cooper really survive this?

The transport touched down with a heavy thud. The landing gear pressed its way into the dry and caked earth slowly compressing in on itself until the gears locked into place and it came to a complete rest. The central cargo hold lowered open and a stream of Shock Troopers spilled out, R-201s at the ready. They moved in formation away from the transport and worked their way towards the smoking sphere of metal, checking the cliffs overlooking the wreckage of the Draconis for any signs of movement. There were none. Behind them the Emergency Medical Response Team carried various metal cases and a high-ranking former combat medic, Dr. Dippy Patel was in close pursuit. He moved behind the Shock Troopers at a measured pace, knowing the medical team would likely have to pry the doors off the remains of the Titan before he could assess Pilot Cooper.

Dippy began to bark orders at his medical team as they neared the molten sphere, "Wait! Take a temperature reading of the cockpit before you touch it. It must be near 300C. I can see from the color!"

The team did as they were instructed. One of the medical staff took out a laser thermometer and took a reading of the hull. Turns out Dr. Patel was wrong. It was only around 200C but the heat emanating from the crashed Titan meant it was still too hot to touch, even with gloves.

"Get out the saws. Cut Cooper out of there," he said in a calm but assertive tone. "Careful not to touch the metal with your hands. It's still far too hot," was all he managed to make out before the screeching whine of the saw blades overpowered his words. In a matter of moments the remains of the cockpit door gave way and fell from the locking mechanisms previously holding it in place. The bottom half of the door was already missing, sheared off by the size of the energy sphere that had brought Cooper & BT to their resting place. Briggs had now caught up with the group and was watching with nervous tension. More smoke poured out from inside the cockpit. When it cleared, Cooper lay propped up against the right control panel of the cockpit. His lifeless body slumped in the seat, blood pooled on the floor.

"Wait, wait," Patel urged his team to stay back.

"I'm not waiting." Briggs snapped at him. She walked over to the opening, placed a boot on an outstretched piece of metal and climbed in. Her boot immediately started melting and the frame of the cockpit door singed her glove but she didn't care. She reached inside and scooped Cooper in her arms, tears welling in her eyes once again. The medical team behind her had set up a gurney. She backed out and jumped down from the cockpit, half-melted rubber oozing from the sole of her boot. She gently placed Cooper down into the gurney and took a step back, letting the medical team rush in and perform their work.

"Get tourniquets on those legs right below the knee. You!" Patel pointed to one of the other techs, "Open up that red case there and get out all the blood packs we've got in there. This is that AB+ bastard's lucky day. This man needs as much blood as we can give him right now if he is to have any chance of survival."

Briggs walked away from the whole scene and took a deep breath. Despite her years of training, the hardening of her inner self, the countless lives lost, she didn't want to see Cooper die like this. Not after all he had sacrificed not just for the Militia, but all mankind. She watched as the medical team hooked up more and more machines to Cooper. One of the techs took out a defibrillator as another used heavy scissors to cut away the suit from his chest. They smeared conductive gel on his pec and adhered the defib patches in a diagonal fashion across his heart and inserted the leads into the main board of the device. Whee - thump. Whee - thump. Nothing. Whee - thump. Nothing. Whee-thump! Someone else had placed a mask over Cooper's face and was pumping air into his lungs with a plastic diaphragm. Wheeee-thump!

Beep. Skreeeee. Cooper flatlined again. Another defibrillator charge. Wheeee-thump! Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. His heart beat four times and then stopped again. Briggs heard Cooper flatline six more times before finally producing a faint but steady enough reading on the heart monitor to be safely moved.

"Good enough for now, get him onto the Antiquity and radio in to prepare a surgery theater. We are not out of the woods yet," Dippy was telling his men. "Go, go! What are you waiting for?" A couple of the techs looked at one another and began moving Cooper towards the transport. The Shock Troopers moved with them, continuing to scan the horizon for hostiles that didn't exist. Briggs stayed behind to survey the remains of BT. Staring at the black and lifeless core nestled in its control unit, she took a small hoop from a pouch on her belt and inserted it into the gaps around the lens. With a grunt she rotated her hand to the left to loosen the AI Core and unscrewed the rest with her hand until only the large lightbulb-shaped construct remained in her palm.

"Come on, BT," she said, "We're going home."

 **Please feel free to send me a PM or leave a Review with any comments/suggestions you may have to improve the writing or the story. If you like it as is, praise is always welcome too. Thank you!**


	4. Old Dogs, New Tricks

Cooper was kept in a medically induced coma for four weeks before Dr. Patel decided he was stable enough to be woken up. The 2.5 mg/kg drip of propofol allowed Cooper's metabolism to be slowed and aided in reducing the brain swelling that had occurred during the return to what was now the ruins of the planet Typhon. At his lab in the heart of the Agri-District of Harmony, Patel found he could complete his best work, and in the case of restoring Pilot Jack Cooper, it was the only option. Briggs had of course filed several inquisitions as to whether or not Cooper could be moved sooner, as she had a vested interest in the nearly fallen hero; Patel had respectfully declined any of her requests to bring Cooper closer to her, and by default, closer to the front. Briggs was pushing her assault on the Frontier hard after the Militia's 'victory', if one could call it that, on Typhon by destroying the Fold Weapon. She had her sights set on the training ground Whitehead on the planet Gridiron in an effort to delay fresh IMC pilots from hitting the front. Patel simply wouldn't be caught up in the politics of the matter. He answered to only one mistress, his work.

Despite his best efforts to dissuade her, however, Briggs had chartered an Antiquity Class Transport to be present for Cooper's briefing. When she landed, Patel was waiting for her outside the main doors of his facility, notebook in hand, genuinely curious as to what information she might have for him. Against his pleas she had absconded with BT's Core to be analyzed aboard one of the high command vessels - the Praetor - instead of one of his labs. The killing blow to his argument had been that he was a medical doctor, not an engineer or AI scientist, and the core would be of better use being repaired and analyzed by someone with the proper credentials. He couldn't argue with her logic and exhausted from the debate, had begrudgingly agreed.

As soon as the transport touched down on the landing pad a few hundred meters from his lab, Briggs could be seen approaching in long strides towards him. In a few moments they were together, though not on the most amicable of terms.

"Is he awake, Dippy?" she asked.

"Yes, he is awake, Commander." Dippy replied. She purposefully referred to him by his first name as a not-so-subtle reminder of his place within the rank and file of the Militia. She was a Commander, he was a lowly doctor, understood. He looked down and saw she was carrying a small thermoplastic briefcase. Even more curious was that it was handcuffed to her wrist. _Interesting,_ Dippy thought to himself. "Shall we go see him?" he asked.

"Yes," was her only reply. Together they walked to the main doors, Dippy badged them in, and they made their way through a series of winding hallways until eventually coming to a halt outside the Patient Recovery Room for 'Jack Cooper'. When Cooper saw her through the windows his right hand immediately shot up to salute her but lowered it when she mouthed the words "at ease" to him. Even through the glass barrier it was obvious there was no need to stand on ceremony here.

"Before we go in and speak with him, Dr. Patel, there is something I need you to see," Briggs said. "Let's head to your office."

"As you like, ma'am," Dippy agreed. They set off at the same brisk pace as before. Something was eating away at Briggs and now Dippy too. _What does she have to show me?_ he wondered.

Inside his office she set the case down on his desk, raised the cuffed wrist to her mouth and whispered something into the locking mechanism of the device. It beeped and released its hold and she rubbed the front and back of her wrist to ease the aching tissues.

"Take a look at this," she said opening the case and removing a small memory card. Dippy couldn't help but notice that also carried in the case was, as he suspected, the AI Core for BT-7274. She inserted the card into Dippy's computer and a file browser opened to reveal a series of documents, photos, and videos.

She touched the screen and opened a video entitled "Superfluous Code". In the center of the video was Engineer IV Przybylski, a brilliant Pol who had spearheaded the reconstruction of BT's AI after Briggs had retrieved it from the wreckage of his former chassis.

"You see here…" Przybylski was pointing to a rendering of BT's AI, "...these are the primary data blocks for BT-7274's systems. Here and here (more pointing) everything seems normal. Using a backup copy of BT's personality we were able to rebuild many of these peripheral data sets to match his original release build, those are colored in blue. But here (even more pointing and pen movements) you can see there is this… 'superfluous code' that we cannot move, cannot replace, cannot update, nothing. As if that wasn't enough, it's so heavily encrypted that even brute-forcing it for several days on 'Ivan Denisovich' (that was his personally constructed supercomputer that he loved even more than his wife) yielded no results. When we power him up, BT doesn't respond. Zero. Null. See what Patel says," he concluded.

Briggs closed the file browser and removed the data card from the computer. "Your thoughts?" Briggs asked directing her gaze at Patel.

He tapped his index finger to his upper lip several times before responding, "Well we won't know until we link them together," he said.

"Link them together?"

"Yes, I am referring to Pilot Cooper and BT." Patel anxiously clacked away at his keyboard and opened up a series of high-res images. "These are neuroscans we continuously took of Cooper while he was in a coma - after the crash." More clacking. "These are neuroscans taken from prior to the event on Typhon that show for all intents and purposes, 'normal' brain function." He was excitedly pointing to various locations on the image. "Here in the parietal lobe and also here in the thalamus there are extra bits of activity not normally seen. You can see the color changes here and here between the two images in red. Look. Look."

Briggs shifted uneasily in place and stared fixedly at Patel, "Ok, let's go hook them up."

"Right away!" and Patel began heading out the door back down the winding hallways to Cooper's room, Briggs close behind. He tapped his ear and gave orders for a lab technician to have a Titan Control Unit and helmet carted up to Cooper's room.

In the room Cooper looked around nervously at the two of them as he observed a buzzing of activity outside the windows.

"Dr. Patel, what's going on?" he asked, trying to mask his tension.

"Well Cooper," Patel replied, "BT has been repaired to the best of our abilities but is overall non-responsive."

"BT is alive?!" The heart monitors blipped more rapidly now. "Where is he?" Cooper could barely form the question. "I want to see him!"

"He's here, Cooper. In this case. Or at least his core is." Briggs interrupted. "We are bringing a Titan Control Module up now to wake him up. Take it easy for now."

"Yes ma'am," Cooper gave a perfunctory response. A team of five techs strained under the load of the control unit and worked to set it up on the heavy desk opposite to Cooper's bed. They worked at a measured pace setting up the power unit and ensuring all of the cables were attached to their correct nodes before nodding at Patel & Briggs and taking their leave of the room. Briggs opened the case and carefully removed BT's AI Core and inserted it into the control box. She nodded at Patel to power on the device and after a few moments the core lens flashed blue and scanned the room. It blinked several times before settling at its reference coordinate 'home' of 0,0,0 and ceased moving.

"B..BT?" Cooper eked out. No response. "BT, it's me, Jack Cooper. BT, buddy?" No response.

"Try to establish a neural link," Patel suggested, handing Cooper the Pilot's helmet.

"I'm not sure I'm ready, Doc," Cooper guiltily answered.

"You have to try, Cooper. Please." Cooper raised the helmet above his head and shifted his torso forward in the hospital bed. Moving was still difficult since losing his legs. They had healed but had been amputated above the knee per Patel's instruction when he was originally admitted to surgery after the wreck.

With the helmet in place Cooper hesitated before moving a hand up to flip the helmet on. At once the visor came to life and a series of blue hexagons rippled out from the central viewing port towards to edges of the display view. Text cycled on the screen.

Validating Neural Link - Pending… Pending… Pending...

Motion Link - Inactive

Rerouting link OS V18.723M - Pending…

Recycling Primary Power - Success

Boot Systems - Activated

Validating Neural Link - Pending… Pending… Pending… Success

1\. Link to Pilot Jack Cooper - Linked

2\. Uphold the Mission - Status Unknown

3\. Protect the Pilot - In Progress

Patel excitedly watched the control unit monitor, hanging on every word of text that appeared. The words vanished and reappeared, blinking several times before Cooper finally spoke.

"BT…?"

 _I…. I…. It-It's g-good to hear your v-voice again C-C-Coo-Cooper._

"BT!" Cooper could hardly contain his excitement. "BT I wish I could hug you, buddy. You saved us. You saved us both… I owe you my life."

 _B-but it loo-looks like it c-came at a p-p-price._

The AI core was scanning the room. It registered Briggs and Patels' presence.

 _I was afraid of this. The cascade was too small to bring all of us back through the rift. I'm sorry, Cooper._

"Cut it out, BT," Cooper felt his face flush with anger. "We destroyed the Fold Weapon and managed to make it back. It's all because of you any of us are here."

 _Copy that, Pilot._

"Briggs," Patel whispered to his superior.

 _I c-can h-hear you D-D-Doctor._

"Right, ok BT. There is a rehab facility here with a couple of Vanguard Titan Chassis. We use it to re-acclimate injured pilots back into service. With Cmdr Brigg's permission we could move the two of you down there and see if you all are able to walk together," Patel suggested.

"Yes, Doc." Cooper answered for Briggs and she nodded her approval in response. Patel tapped his ear and sent new orders for a wheelchair to be brought to the room and for BT's core to be placed in one of the rehab facility's Titan chassis. Within 20 minutes Cooper was staring up at the frame of a Vanguard training mech. It was painted orange with black accents to indicate its status as a trainer and not a fully combat-ready Titan. With BT's core inserted into the control unit, Cooper once again fitted the pilot's helmet to his head and switched it on. The blue hexagons danced as the software booted up and soon his field of vision cleared. BT wasn't moving.

Validating Neural Link - Pending… Pending… Pending… Success

1\. Link to Pilot Jack Cooper - Linked

After the link was established BT began scanning the large training hangar and focused on Cooper sitting in the wheelchair. The cockpit hissed open and he extended a hand down gently plucking Cooper from his chair and placing him inside the cockpit. The doors hissed shut while Briggs and Patel watched in amazement as BT stood fully erect, a 40T monstrosity, waiting for Cooper to strap himself in.

"I think I understand now," Patel observed. "The encrypted data in BT's core and brain activity from Cooper's neuroscans are partial copies of one another. That's why one can't function without the other. At this point I don't think neither BT nor Cooper would be able to Link with another Titan or pilot. Simply amazing..."

WARNING, INCOMING HOSTILE TITANS

"What?!" Briggs snapped as the announcement echoed through the hangar.

"Sir!" a rifleman was running into the hangar. "Sir, two enemy titans just landed near the facility. They snuck aboard a supply transport and are headed this way. Nearest friendlies are 5km away on a scouting run. Your orders?!" He was out of breath. A wave of fear swept over all parties in the room.

"BT, Cooper, engage and eliminate the enemy Titans. I'll be awaiting your return," she ordered.

"Cooper, there is an XO16A2 Chaingun in that cabinet over there!" Patel yelled pointing to the corner of the hangar. "There are live rounds but no other armaments, no shields. You'll have to make do with just the rifle!"

 _Copy that._ BT replied. _Cooper, are you ready?_

Cooper didn't need to respond. He had already pushed BT towards the cabinet and snatched up the A2 and was loading it with live rounds. Once armed he turned BT around and forced the hangar door open with BT's right hand before ducking under it and charging out to engage the hostile Titans. Patel rushed to a series of monitors stationed on the far wall of the hanger and was jumping excitedly motioning for Briggs to join him.

"Look!" he said. "Their synchronization rate is growing exponentially. The longer they stay linked the stronger the connection becomes betwen them. This is incredible!"

Outside, BT had already locked onto the first Titan that was making it's way through the field, ducking behind a grain storage building for cover.

 _Cooper, I recommend a flanking maneuver._

"Already on it," Cooper replied, running full-bore to the left of the silo. The second Titan was tracking them and fired off a salvo of missiles. Cooper waited until the final moment and used BT's propulsion drive to dash forward and dodge the cluster. He used the neural link to take aim with the A2 and popped off a few closely grouped rounds into the chest of the first hostile Titan. It threw up it's Vortex shield but was no use. Cooper dashed again and this time took aim at its head and let off two more carefully timed bursts. The first few bullets were absorbed by the shield but the second volley pierced into the control unit and damaged it. The Titan faltered momentarily giving Cooper enough time to close the distance and grab the Titan by the chest and lift it up, using it as a physical shield to block the second salvo of missiles from the remaining Titan.

Nine of the twelve missiles in the volley impacted the incapacitated Titan, rendering it immobile. Cooper thrust the Titan out at arm's length and rested the A2 on it's shoulder, using it as a sort of bench rest. Once stabilized he fully depressed the trigger and a shower of 20mm rounds peppered the remaining enemy Titan, causing it to retreat slightly to an outcropping of rocks.

"You're a dead man!" Cooper yelled through his comms. He slammed the captured Titan down onto the ground and unloaded into its head. Bits of metal and debris broke away before the core lens cracked and the light faded away. Using BT's hand he crushed the chest of the Titan to trap the pilot inside. He might prove useful later as an informant.

Cooper ran full force at the second Titan which had briefly peeked out from the rocks. Cooper used BT's jets to rise up off the ground and perform a jumping tackle on the second. An emergency transmission brought words of desperation into Cooper's cockpit.

"Wait… wait, please!" the enemy pilot pleaded.

"Who sent you?!" Cooper was seething.

"It was Blisk… Kuben Blisk sent me." Fear gripped the enemy pilot. "He's got a new contract out for you from Marder. Millions of… millions of credits. You have no idea. Ku-."

Cooper had heard enough and cut the comms. He crushed the pelvic gears of the enemy Titan with BT's foot and reloaded the A2. Dropping the slide release he took aim at at the center of the Titan and unloaded until only a tick tick tick tick of the empty firing mechanism echoed off the rocks.

"Tell Blisk I'm coming for him…" Cooper said, but the enemy pilot was already dead. The A2 had bored a hole straight through the cockpit and into the hard earth below. He sat the training mech down and stared out at the expanse of fields around him on Harmony.

"BT-7274," Cooper said, his heart pumping dust, "Apparently there's a South African merc with a death wish. Let's go bring him what he wants…"

 _Copy that, pilot._


End file.
